Fire or draft stop for piers, wharves, and the like



Oct. 29, 1935. J. M KAY FIRE OR DRAFT STOP FOR PIERS, WHARVES AND THELIKE Filed Feb. 25, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

Ja/m McKay q Q i B? 5% M ATTORNEY.

Oct. 29, 1935; J MCKAY I 2,019,188

FIRE OR DRAFT STOP FOR PIERS, WHARVES AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 25. 1955 2Sheets-Sheet 2 If I! /5 a /0 /0 M, 20

a, x I J 2 \M l 5 I *7 l 1 21 i j I g I './/9 1 i 7 I I a 1 1 i iINVENTOR.

John MC/( y A; ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 29, 1935 -ATEN QFEQ FIRE OR DRAFT STOP FOR PIERS, WHARVES,AND THE LIKE tion of Delaware Application February 25, 1935, Serial No.8,043

4 Claims.

This invention relatesto fire or draft stops for piers, wharves and thelike and more particularly to fire or draft stops of suitable material,such as Gunite.

Piers, Wharves and like Structures commonly comprise suitable deck orfloor structures supported by wooden piles and, in the event of firebeneath the floor of one of these structures, the fire is not only veryhard to get at but tends to spread very rapidly and burn out the piles,thus tending to cause collapse ofthe structure as a Whole. It is veryimportant therefore to obstruct or prevent the spreading ofthe firebeneath the floor. Heretofore this has been done by the use of fire ordraft stops usually made of wood or of metal plates. Such stops tend toshut off drafts but the wooden stops are very quickly destroyed whenreached by the fire and the stops of metal plates or sheets, while notinflammable, are quickly heated so as to set fire to supportingstructures. of wood and thereby cause their own collapse.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a novel andadvantageous device of the general character described. According to apreferred embodiment of the invention, each fire stop comprises arelatively light wall or partition of reinforced Gunite preferablyadjacent to and at least partially supported by a row of piles extendingtransversely with respect to the length of the pier or wharf andextending up to the fioor proper and down- Wardly as far as feasible,for example, substantially to low water mark. The supporting piles mayalso be surrounded by metal reinforcing means'which is tied up with thereinforcement of the fire stop proper, and the piles thus prepared maybe enclosed in a covering of Gunite integral with that of the fire stopproper, thus forming a monolithic structure of which the fire resistantpanels or parts between the piles are strong and fiexible, so as not tobe cracked or broken easily, and the piles with their casings of Guniteare practically fireproof.

Although the fire-stop structure thus far described is very effective,there is danger of fire jumping around a free end of such a fire stop.Such jumping of the fire must be guarded against and this may be done byproviding at each free end of the stop proper a curtain or wall ofreinforced Gunite located along the side of the structure and arrangedat either one or both ends of the fire stop. Preferably the wings formedby these curtains or walls are each in the form of a panel adjacent tothe inner sides of the piles at the end of the stop proper and the nextpile along the side of the pier or Wharf.

In forming the panels between the piles and the casings for the piles,the metal reinforcing means, preferably in the form of a Wire mesh, 5 isplaced Where the panels are to be made and the piles are enclosed inwire mesh secured to the wire mesh of the panels. In order to apply theGunite, there must be backing material adjacent to the Wire mesh to beembedded in the Gunite. In encasing the piles their surfaces supply thenecessary backing but a suitable backing must be constructed at thepanels. In the event that the Wharves or piers are already provided withWooden stops at points where it is desired to place Gunite stops, thewooden stops may be used for backing purposes.

In forming the panels and the coverings of the piles, a mixture ofcement and sand in proper proportions is blown from a shooting device,such as a Cement Gun, through a nozzle where water is supplied insuflicient quantity and in such a manner as to hydrate thoroughly thecementitious mixture without providing an excessive amount of water.From the nozzle, the material is blown at a high velocity against thebacking where it collects and builds up so as to enclose the reinforcingmesh. In substance the material is pneumatically tamped to form a densecohesive mass constituting the material above referred to as Gunite.

Other features, objects and advantages will appear upon consideration ofthe following description and of the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is ahorizontal section of a wharf embodying a preferred form of the firestop of the present invention, the section being taken through thesupporting piles and the outer edge of the wharf being indicated by adot-and-dash line;

Fig. 2 is a similar section of a pier;

Fig. 3 is a section taken along the line 3-3 of Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through the pile at one end of a firestop.

Referring to Fig. 1 'of the drawings, reference numeral It! indicates awharf arranged marginally with respect to the shore or bank I l andincluding Wooden supporting piles l2 and a deck l3. The piles may bearranged in rows extending from the shore to the outer edge of the wharfand as indicated in Fig. 3 support heavy cap pieces or beams H! whichmay extend outwardly from the shore along the rows of piles alreadyreferred to. Mounted on the cap pieces I4 are a string piece [5 at theouter edge of the wharf and stringers or joists 16 arranged at regularintervals between the string piece l5 and the shore. The deck or fioorl3 may be formed of planks resting on the string piece and joists.

As indicated in Fig. l, the Wharf is provided with a fire stop I8comprising a main portion extending along a row of piles I2 from theshore to the outer edge of the wharf and guarding means, which may be inthe form of wings I9, to prevent fire beneath the deck from jumpingaround the ends of the fire stops. The fire stop proper and also thewings [9 should extend right up to the floor as indicated in Fig. 3. Thewings l9 may extend to any suitable distance along the edge of the wharfbut will give satisfactory results if they extend merely from the pile,at the outer end of the row with which the main body of the fire stop isconnected, to the piles at the outer ends of the next adjacent rows.

It is also important to have the fire stop strongly fire resistant andto protect the firestop-supporting piles substantially to the extent offireproofing the same. Preferably these results are obtained bystretching reinforcing material, such as wire mesh 20 along the pileswhere the fire stop is to be located, placing wire mesh around thestop-supporting piles, providing backing forms for the panels betweenthe piles and blowing hydrated cementitious material into place so thatthe wire mesh will be completely embedded in Gunite and the piles willbe completely encased in a thick casing of such material. Obviously if awooden fire stop be already in position, all or parts of the same may beused as a backing for the: panels of reinforced Gunite,

When fire stops are to be constructed for a pier such as shown in Fig.2, both ends of the fire stops must be provided with wings l9 since bothsides of the pier are exposed. Otherwise the construction may be exactlythe same as for the wharf shown in Fig. 1.

The reinforced Gunite panels are very strong and flexible and not easilydamaged and the supporting piles are rendered substantially fireproof.Obviously stops of the structure described will cut off drafts veryeffectively and will actually check fires as well.

Preferably the Gunite covered piles are protected by fender piles 2i.

It should be understood that various changes may be made in theconstruction and arrangement of parts and the various features may beused without others without departing from the true scope and spirit ofthe invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The combination with an elongated structure of the type describedcomprising a deck, piles arranged in rows extending transversely withrespect to the length of the deck, cap pieces on the piles of said rows,a string piece and stringers on said cap pieces and supporting saiddeck, of a fire stop including openwork metal reinforcing sheet materialsupported by the piles of one of said rows and by said stringers toextend up to said deck between said stringers and additional reinforcingsheet material at the inner sides of the outer piles of the fire stoprow and the two adjacent rows and at the inner side of the string piece,reinforcing sheet material around all of the supporting piles, and densefire resisting cementitious material encasing said reinforcing materialto form reinforced panels between the piles, encasing said piles torender them substantially fire-proof, and covering the inner side of thestring piece to protect the same.

2. The combination with a wharf including a deck and supporting piles inrows extending from the shore to the outer edge of the wharf, ofamonolithic fire stop of reinforced Gunite and comprising relatively thinpanels between the piles of one row, casings around the piles and a wingextending from the outer pile of the row along the edge of the wharf.

3. The combination with a wharf including a deck and supporting piles inrows extending out-- wardly from the shore, of a monolithic fire stop ofreinforced Gunite comprising relatively thin panels between the piles ofa row, casings around the piles of the row and wings extending from theoutermost pile in the row in opposite directions along the edge of thewharf.

4. The combination with an elongated structure of the type describedcomprising a deck, piles arranged in rows extending transversely withrespect to the length of the deck, cap pieces on the piles of said rowsand stringers on said cap pieces supporting said deck, of a fire stopincluding openwork metal reinforcing sheet material at.- tached to thepiles of one of said rows and extending up to said deck and additionalreinforc ing sheet material connecting the outer piles of the fire stoprow and an adjacent row, reinforc; ing sheet material of the samegeneral character around all of the piles used to support the fire stop;and dense cementitious fire resisting material encasing said reinforcingmaterial to form reinforced panels between such supporting piles andencasing such piles to render them substan-;- tially fire-proof.

JOHN McKAYi

